5 Things I Forgot Happened in the Goblet of Fire

One of my 2018 bookish goals was to re-read the Harry Potter series and so I used one of my audible credits to download the Goblet of Fire and continue where I left off last summer. As I’ve mentioned before, I had to read Sorcerer’s Stone for my children’s literature class last spring and that reminded me of how much I loved the series so I read Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban over the summer. Now, I’m back to reading the final four in the series. I’ve probably read the books a few times in my life and seen the movies, especially Goblet of Fire, hundreds of times, and yet on this re-read a couple things caught my attention as things I had completely forgot happened in the print version of Goblet of Fire because I definitely see the movie more frequently. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

Do you discover new things about the HP universe every time you reread? What is your favorite HP book? GoF is definitely mine!

Dobby gives Harry the Gillyweed, not Neville

One of my favorite scenes in the GoF movie is when Neville gives Harry the gillyweed, sees him goes underwater, and says “Oh no, I’ve killed Harry Potter.”  I like that the movie gives Neville this hero moment, but I totally forgot he didn’t get it in the book! I suppose I completely forgot that Dobby came to Hogwarts to work in the kitchen in book 4 because the movie leaves out all of Hermione’s SPEW work for the house elves, but using Dobby as the savior in this moment reminded me a lot of Chamber of Secrets. Of course, it makes complete sense how Dobby was able to do this, because he had a lot of access, but I think I prefer having Neville be the hero in this case.  It also sets up his continual story line of being a great herbologist.

We meet the Niffler

I rewatched Fantastic Beasts the other day, and one of the earliest scenes is the one with the niffler in the bank. So color me surprised when Hagrid introduces the niffler to his Care of Magical Creatures class and it goes on a treasure hunt for leprechaun’s gold. This wasn’t a HUGE plot point, the niffler never paid a big role in this story, but it shows a continuity in the universe I appreciate and this was a magical creature I forgot we met in the original series.

Barty Crouch Jr’s “death” at Azkaban

So I knew that Barty Jr was pretending to be Mad-Eye Moody, how could I not, but I forgot how dang convoluted the path he took to get there was. Early on in GoF, when Harry is talking to Sirius, Sirius mentions how he saw Barty Crouch Jr die and get buried and I was like “wait what?” because I knew how the story ended.  I also couldn’t remember exactly what made Crouch Sr act so odd or disappear, but everything is cleared up at the end when Crouch Jr is revealed and given the veritaserum to spill his secrets.  Barty Jr was sent to Azkaban but his sick mother switched places with him and died in prison in his place while his father snuck him out and hid him at home using the Imperius curse but then Barty Jr broke free and rejoined the Dark Lord and the Dark Lord kept Barty Sr under the Imperius curse but then Barty Sr escaped and came to Hogwarts to reveal everything to Dumbledore and Barty Jr killed him and buried him outside of Hagrid’s. Dang. Dark, Joanne, dark.

Ludo Bagman was a bad-ish guy

I don’t think Ludo Bagman is as much of a character in the movie as in the book. Sure, he’s around, being the HBIC game dude and all, but the thing about his gambling debts, the Weasley twins blackmailing him, and him getting off for probably passing info to the Death Eaters was something I had forgotten. Of course, we aren’t told in GoF that he is expressly involved in the whole Voldemort scheme, but his actions certainly weren’t helpful along the way.

Bellatrix Lestrange was married

I don’t know why I didn’t realize this because I remember that she was Narcissa’s sister (and also Tonks’! How did I not remember that?) but I guess I just never realized that she was married to a man named Rodolphus. This came up again through Sirius when he is listing people in Azkaban and says the Lestranges, a married couple. My ears perked up! Of course, this isn’t a huge plot point but is interesting when you take into account what we learn in the Cursed Child follow-up. However, Rodolphus Lestrange is never mentioned in the Battle of Hogwarts and we don’t know if he died or not. Odds don’t look good for him though.